The Best and the Brightest
by David Halberstam
This 1973 classic is an unforgettable chronicle of John Kennedy's Camelot and its legacy --f eaturing remarkable portraits of the men who
conceived and executed the Vietnam War, including Robert McNamara, McGeorge Bundy, Dean Rusk, and Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy: Brothers in Arms: A Biography
by Kai Bird
This dual biography of the brothers who were top aides to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson is an outstanding study of the mindset that allowed the
United States to become slowly ensnared in the Vietnam War. Both McGeorge Bundy, a national security advisor, and William Bundy, a senior official at the
Pentagon and State Department, were liberal anti-Communists trying to balance American interests in Southeast Asia between what they considered the
dangerous extremes of both Left and Right.

Henry A. KissingerBetween 1969 and 1973, Henry Kissinger was the principal figure in the diplomatic effort to restore peace in Southeast Asia.

Kissinger: A Biographyby Walter Isaacson
The fullest account of Kissinger's life and career to date, other than his memoirs, this engrossing portrait provides plenty of ammunition for the
former Secretary of State's supporters and detractors both.

None So Blind: A Personal Account of the Intelligence Failure in Vietnam
by George W. Allen
"Few Americans knew more about the inner workings of American Vietnam War policy over as long a period of time as Allen did. A WWII navy
veteran, Allen went to work as a midlevel civilian defense department intelligence analyst after the war. In 1964, he switched to the CIA, where
he served in a similar capacity until his 1979 retirement. Allen spent virtually all of that time in Vietnam and Washington compiling firsthand
intelligence about the French and American wars; he tells (what seems like) all in this wide-ranging, illuminating memoir." --Publishers Weekly

Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-1964by Michael Beschloss
These secretly recorded conversations between President Lyndon Johnson and members of his family, his staff, and the troubled nation he was
governing constitute one of the most exciting audio programs of the decade, invaluable to anyone who is interested in history, politics, or the workings of
human nature.

Maxwell TaylorBetween 1962 and 1964, Taylor served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and then spent a year as ambassador to South Vietnam.

Cyrus VanceVance was a close friend of Lyndon B. Johnson, and he became deputy secretary of defense in 1964.

Vietnam: A History
by Stanley Karnow
This monumental narrative clarifies, analyzes, and demystifies the tragic ordeal of the Vietnam war. Free of ideological bias, profound in its understanding,
and compassionate in its human portrayals, it is filled with fresh revelations drawn from secret documents and from exclusive interviews with the participants -- French,
American, Vietnamese, Chinese: diplomats, military commanders, high government officials, journalists, nurses, workers, and soldiers. Vietnam: A History puts
events and decisions into such sharp focus that we come to understand -- and make peace with -- a convulsive epoch of our recent history.

Vu Van MauMinister of foreign affairs in the government of Ngo Dinh Diem.

War of Numbers: An Intelligence Memoirby Sam Adams
Adams, an intelligence analyst with the CIA, discovered evidence in 1966 that the number of Vietnamese communist soldiers in Vietnam was closer to
600,000 than the 280,000 count made by the Pentagon. Unable to persuade CIA director Richard Helms to convene a board of inquiry, he unsuccessfully
took his appeal to Congress and the White House, then resigned from the agency in '73 to write this account of the affair. His central argument is that
General William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, had deliberately overlooked some 300,000 Vietcong militiamen in order to
buttress the government line that the U.S. was winning the war. In 1980 Adams was hired as a consultant for the CBS documentary The Uncounted
Enemy: A Vietnam Deception , based largely on the evidence he had uncovered; the film caused Westmoreland to file a much-publicized libel suit
against the network, with Adams a co-defendant. Westmoreland dropped the suit before it went to jury. Adams died in 1988, leaving the memoir
unfinished, but far enough along to explain how the CIA and top military brass -- with White House encouragement--misled the Congress and the
American people about enemy strength before the 1968 Tet Offensive. The expose offers a convincing inside look at CIA analytical techniques
during the Vietnam war.

Paul WarnkeGeneral William Westmoreland blamed Warnke for converting Clark Clifford from a hawk to a dove about Vietnam.